Professor David Logan's Archive for September 2012

One of the fun, and unofficial, traditions at RWU Law is the Potluck Dinners at the home of Laurie Barron, the crackerjack head of our Feinstein Institute for Legal Service. Once a semester, some of the many RWU students committed to Public Interest Law gather at Laurie’s home way out in the Tiverton boonies for an evening of food, fun, and fellowship. Here are a couple comments from attendees at the fall ’12 gathering:
The Potlucks at Laurie Barron's house are never dull! Always a great time to mingle with fellow law students and faculty members in a very informal setting....

Public event #3 for Justice Alito was a lunch with faculty and some leading lawyers around the state, followed by a “fireside chat” with Dean Cass, and finally a VIP reception at the beautiful home of RWU President Dr. Donald Farish. As was the case with the morning events, the Justice was insightful, candid, and very approachable. I will leave to our PR folks to summarize the Q&As so that I can add some of the highlights from my end:
The Justice hanging out in my office between events, casually discussing the latest edition of Caro’s multi-volume biography of LBJ with RI Chief...

In recent years the Roger Williams Law community has had a remarkable four members of the Supreme Court of the United States visit Rhode Island [links to Breyer, Scalia and Roberts blogs], most recently Associate Justice Samuel Alito. The visit was organized by Ron Cass, Dean Emeritus of BU Law School, and a close friend of the Justice, and Justice Alito and his wonderful wife Martha-Ann were good sports, participating in a long list of events that enabled students, faculty, alums, and leaders of the bench and bar, to have multiple opportunities to interact with a leading jurist. ...

You would think starting law school would be enough for any 1L, but newbie Peter Costa not only is tackling that challenge, but also running for state office this fall from District 67 (Barrington-Warren); he also attended the Republican National Convention in Tampa as an Alternate Delegate. Below are Peter’s observations, as posted on his blog.
Peter at Tampa Bay Times...

RWU Law Prof. Carl Bogus gained national acclaim for his recent biography of conservative icon William F. Buckley, Jr. http://law.rwu.edu/blog/buckley-bio-reviewed-and-admired-widely and now he is participating in a major program at the University of Texas School of Law on the topic of the future of the American conservative movement. Organized by Sandy Levinson, the Garwood Centennial Chair in Law at UT, leading scholars from across the country will gather in Austin to debate “Wither Conservatism,” a topic made all the more interesting by the prospect of Paul Ryan being elected...

Among the crazes of the last decade is poker, fueled by the ease (and promise of riches) from online playing and fan interest form TV coverage taking advantage of “pocket cams” that allowed observers to see players’ “hole cards.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker
As it turns out, Roger Williams University has a number of interesting connections to gaming.
First, RWU undergrad alum Susan Bedusa produced a well-regarded documentary “All In: The Poker Movie,” which traces the meteoric rise of poker’s popularity, with the 6 entrants in the first “Main Event” of the World Series...